1. Field of the Invention
Generally, the invention relates to devices to engage and retain for movement a piece of sod. More specifically, the invention relates to such hand held devices which may be readily manipulated by a user.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Sod is grass which is grown at one location, harvested and placed at another location to continue to grow at the second location. Sod is primarily used to instantly have a beautiful yard without having to wait for the normal growing cycle to be completed. Sod is the collection of the soil and roots of grass along with the exposed grass extending upward from the soil.
Numerous methods exist to manipulate sod from the time of cutting of the sod from the ground upon which is has been grown to the time of placement of the sod on the ground upon which it will subsequently grow. There exist two (2) generally styles of sod being a rolled style and a piece style. The rolled style is where the sod is harvested in a long row and stored in roll form for subsequent installation. The piece style is where the sod is harvested in squares, or more commonly rectangles, and stacked on pallets in a natural orientation with the grass facing upward and each of the pieces of sod generally flat. It is known to harvest sod in the roll form and then convert it later into the piece form.
Sod harvesting machines are well known in the art to uniformly slice, to a predetermined depth, under the soil having roots therein while cutting edges along at least two (2) sides to harvest sod from a grow field. At some point cuts are made to separate each piece of sod from the field or from adjacent pieces of sod. Such machines have features to manipulate the cut sod to an orientation for transport, either as a roll or as cut pieces.
In the area of handling sod cut into pieces U.S. Pat. No. 6,112,680 by Hummer discloses manipulating sod by penetrating the piece of sod with a plurality of actuator rods with each rod linearly penetrating the sod at an angle. The actuator rods penetrate the piece of sod from at least two opposing directional angles. The invention of Hummer is clearly intended for large scale machine use and would not be practical, nor an obvious variation, as a hand held sod handling device.
In the area of handling sod cut into pieces U.S. Pat. No. 3,326,592 by Pelton discloses manipulating sod by penetrating the piece of sod with teeth which extend downward from the frame for linear insertion into the piece of sod. Subsequent to such linear insertion of the totality of the teeth, half of the teeth are pivoted in one direction while the other half of the teeth are pivoted in the opposing direction. This arrangement tends to destroy the sod by ripping it apart at all places between each pair of teeth which are displaced away from each other. Additionally, the compression of sod between each pair of teeth which are displaced toward each other damage the piece of sod. The invention of Pelton is clearly intended for large scale machine use and would not be practical, nor an obvious variation, as a hand held sod handling device.
In the area of handling sod during harvesting into sod pieces, U.S. Pat. No. 7,407,362 by Brouwer and Milwain disclose manipulating sod by grasping the grass extending from the surface of the sod. In a brief mention in Brouwer and Milwain, see the paragraph at column 5, lines 23-33, and FIGS. 15 and 16, it is disclosed to penetrate the sod by “ . . . hooking part of the thatch of the sod or the soil portion of the slab.”. The invention of Brouwer and Milwain, including all possible variations disclosed, is clearly intended for large scale machine use and would not be practical, nor an obvious variation, as a hand held sod handling device.
In an apparent unrelated field, a grapple is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,572,499 by Light to hoist baled or loose hay, straw or the like, to a stack or in storing the same in barns or other buildings.
Your applicant is unaware of any simple hand held device which assists a user to readily and easily and safely engage, transport and release a piece of sod while minimizing any potential damage such handling might typically entail.
The vast majority of sod installation at a location being sodded occurs with the installer grasping a piece of the sod with both hands and physically picking it up with their hands and carrying it with their hands and releasing it from their hands. Most such installers utilize gloves to protect their hands. Depending upon the length of the exposed grass and the quality of the sod being installed, the installer may grasp the exposed grass within clenched fist and pick up the sod from the top. This technique tends to damage the sod as it exerts the entire weight of the piece of sod to the small areas being engaged by the installer. At other times the installer may grasp the side from opposing edges, typically the short sides of the piece of sod, with their finger tips under the sod and their thumbs above. This technique tends to permit bending of the piece of sod which has the tendency to damage the sod. This technique also applies the entire weight of the piece of sod to the areas being engaged by the installer. A major drawback of the manual installation method involves the installer only being able to manipulate one (1) piece of sod at a time from a stacked location of the sod pieces to be installed to the placement location of the sod being installed. Some installers, in an effort to be more productive, have attempted to convey two (2) pieces of sod at once in a stack. This either involves getting their hands under opposing edges of the lower piece of sod in the stack of two (2) pieces of sod or allowing the stack of two (2) pieces of sod to rest on their forearms. These techniques have proven to fail. In the first instance the weight of the two (2) pieces are too much to retain without damaging the sod at the point of contact with the installer's hands. In the second instance, it is difficult to manipulate their hands and forearms under the two (2) pieces of sod and impossible to place them on the ground at the location of installation unassisted without doing serious damage to the sod. The rare occasions where the second instance works is where another installer remains at the installation location, moving along the ground as installation occurs, and takes the top piece from the installer conveying the two (2) pieces and placing it then taking the second piece from the installer conveying the two (2) pieces and placing it while the installer conveying the sod returns for two (2) more pieces of sod. When this technique is employed often multiple installers will convey sod to the one (1) installer that actually places each piece of sod on the ground.
Various deficiencies exist with all of the known methods of handling pieces of sod during an installation. As can be seen various attempts have been made to provide for large scale machines to handle the pieces of sod while minimizing damage to the piece of sod. These attempts have been less efficient than desired. As such, it may be appreciated that there continues to be a need for a hand held device with engagement members to penetrate the piece of sod from opposing directions with minimal disturbance of the sod, to evenly distribute the weight of the piece of sod over the engagement members during manipulation of the piece of sod and to release the piece of sod cleanly with minimal disturbance of the sod by the engagement members. Additionally, there continues to be a need for a hand held device which an installer may use two (2) of at a time to install two (2) pieces of sod during each cycle of motion from a stacked location of the sod to be installed to the placement location of the two (2) pieces of sod. The present invention substantially fulfills these needs.